Baseball chatter is inevitably and inexorably oriented around contending teams and daily drama.

We parse the playoff races, we debate the merits(?) of intentionally walking Corey Seager with the bases loaded, we share jokes about Albert Pujols pitching. We spent a solid week talking the fantasy football spat between Tommy Pham and Joc Pederson. (And honestly, we might never stop talking about the fantasy football spat between Tommy Pham and Joc Pederson.)

That’s all well and good, but it doesn’t leave much room for the interesting storylines taking place on teams that aren’t in the top tier of the standings. So let’s take a break from discussing Mike Trout’s tenure as a fantasy football commish to point you to these nine storylines you might have missed.

1. The Marlins and D-backs made a monster trade ... three years ago.

It didn’t get a ton of ink at the time (we were a bit preoccupied with Zack Greinke going to the Astros), but now we can say the one-for-one swap of Zac Gallen and Jazz Chisholm Jr. at the 2019 Trade Deadline brought the D-backs a bona fide ace and the Marlins a stud second baseman.

When the trade was made, Gallen was a rather unheralded pitching prospect who had made seven encouraging starts for the Fish, while Chisholm was a Top 100 prospect struggling to live up to the hype at Double-A. Gallen went on to have some very good stretches for Arizona the last couple years, but this year the 26-year-old appears to have made The Leap into true No. 1 standing, with a 2.32 ERA, 176 ERA+, 0.91 WHIP and 48.5 percent groundball rate for a better-than-expected D-backs team.

The charismatic, 24-year-old Chisholm, meanwhile, has broken out with a .542 slugging percentage after putting up just a .414 mark in his first 569 big league plate appearances.

2. José Ramírez is an anomaly.

You probably know that Ramírez is having a great season for the Guardians. But it’s also a highly unusual season, especially in our high-strikeout times. Ramírez had his 50th RBI before the end of May, yet he only struck out 15 times in those first two months. He’s averaging 11.4 at-bats per strikeout. None of the four other players (min. 100 plate appearances) averaging at least 10 at-bats per strikeout have even 20 RBIs, let alone 50.

We don’t expect Ramírez to maintain a 183-RBI pace (that would be the fourth-highest total of all-time). But just to put his start in some type of historical context, there have only been three hitters since World War II to go at least 10 at-bats between strikeouts while driving in at least 150 runs -- the Yankees’ Joe DiMaggio in 1948, the Red Sox’s Ted Williams in '49 and the Dodgers’ Tommy Davis in '62. Ramírez might not join them, but it will be fun to watch him try.

3. Tarik Skubal is an early Cy Young candidate.

This hasn’t been the season of ascension that the Tigers anticipated, but at least the 25-year-old Skubal, whose 2.2 fWAR ranks behind only the Blue Jays’ Kevin Gausman (2.7), has done his part.

Long regarded as one of the better left-handed pitching prospects in the sport, Skubal has shaken off much of the inconsistency that hindered him in his 2020-21 big league break-in and been a dependable force. He has a 2.15 ERA and 175 ERA+ on the year. In the month of May, he allowed just five runs on 21 hits with 35 strikeouts and six walks in 31 innings. Control is the key, as Skubal is walking just 4.4 percent of opposing batters, putting him in the 90th percentile in that category.

4. Ty France is playing like an MVP.

The Mariners have been a massive disappointment so far, but the 27-year-old France continues to assert himself as a true cornerstone player. Before the season, we had France on our All-Underrated Team for 2022, but, honestly, even we might have underrated him.

France has a .347/.417/.500 slash. His 175 weighted runs created plus and 2.7 bWAR both rank in the top 10 in MLB among position players. What stands out most is France’s ability to get the bat to the ball in the zone. His 10.9 percent strikeout rate is also in the top 10 in MLB among qualified hitters, and his 94.8 percent zone contact rate ranks second.

5. The Orioles have a good bullpen.

Baltimore doesn’t look like much of a threat to run away with the AL East anytime real soon, but the O’s season hasn’t been nearly as messy as others in recent memory, and much of that stems from their ability to lock down late leads. The relief corp’s 2.5 fWAR trails only that of the Braves (3.2), Brewers (2.6) and Yankees (2.6).

The ‘pen is anchored by closer Jorge López (1.05 ERA), who ditched a four-seamer to rely more on a sinker that he’s throwing much harder than he did as a starter, and setup man Dillon Tate (1.69 ERA) has taken a huge step forward in command. As a group, the Orioles relievers don’t overpower batters (20.8 percent K rate ranks 26th in MLB), but they are second only to the Dodgers in throwing strikes (42.7 percent), and that’s made all the difference.

6. David Robertson is back.

Once one of the most resilient, reliable relievers in the game, Robertson’s elbow finally gave out in 2019, and he had a setback in his recovery from Tommy John surgery in 2020. It all added up to just 18 2/3 innings pitched from '19-21. Little attention, therefore, was paid to the Cubs’ one-year pact with Robertson for this season.

The highest compliment you can pay the 37-year-old Robertson is that he’s looked like his much younger self. His strikeout rate (34.7) is in the top four percent of the league, and his highest since 2017. He’s got a 1.86 ERA and 0.88 WHIP. The average velocity on his cutter (93 mph) is the highest it’s been in a decade.

7. Andrew Benintendi is a hit machine.

An undeniably talented player, Benintendi has had a somewhat disappointing career that seemingly peaked prematurely during his second full season in Boston in 2018. In the last three seasons -- including his first year with the Royals in '21 -- he’s basically been a league-average bat when healthy. A useful player, for sure, but not the star he once seemed destined to be.

Benintendi, though, is only 27, and he is really putting it together at the plate in 2022. His average exit velocity (90.3 mph) and strikeout rate (14.7 percent) are the best of his career. He’s batting a career-best .337 with a .402 on-base percentage.

8. David Bednar is one of the best closers in baseball.

We tend to focus more on the arms the Pirates have given up in recent years (Gerrit Cole, Joe Musgrove, Jameson Taillon, Clay Holmes, Tyler Glasnow) than the ones they’ve acquired. But the 27-year-old Bednar, who came to the Buccos in the Musgrove trade with the Padres (a fun trade in that Musgrove is from San Diego and Bednar is from Pittsburgh), has become a real force in the ninth.

Bednar was terrific as a 2021 rookie with a 2.23 ERA and 0.97 WHIP, and this year has been even better, with a 1.38 ERA, 0.81 WHIP and a 7.0 strikeout-to-walk ratio that is the seventh-best in MLB among those with at least 20 innings. He’s striking out 35.7 percent of opposing batters. The only question is whether the Pirates would deal this relief revelation at this year’s Trade Deadline. He’s under contractual control through 2026.

9. The Rangers’ rotation is being led by their top pitching prospect ... from 2012.

At 31 years old, Martín Pérez is suddenly better than ever. He’s been around the block a time or two since debuting with the Rangers in 2012. He left Texas for the Twins in free agency in 2019 and pitched for the Red Sox in 2020 and 2021, only to end up back with the Rangers this year on a one-year, $4 million deal. Pérez’s career has not been bereft of great games or great stretches, but on measure from 2012-21, he had an ERA+ of 96, or 4% worse than league average.

Suddenly, this season, his 1.42 ERA and 274 ERA+ going into Sunday’s start is the best in the Majors. He’s throwing his sinker more frequently and with better location, and his changeup has been almost untouchable. We had Pérez on our list of potential starter trade chips, but the Rangers, after a brutal start, have played well enough of late to invite the possibility of a playoff run, and Pérez is a big reason why.